Highly underrated album, but it's not perfect. I prefer Smile Sessions over Smiley.

1. Heroes and Villains : 5/5. Masterpiece and a classic version, maybe not the best but still a classic.2. Vegetables : 4/5. Smile Sessions version is better.3. Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (W. Woodpecker Symphony) : 4/5. Underrated! I find this piece very scary!4. She's Goin' Bald : 5/5. Classic! Makes me laugh every time.5. Little Pad : 5/5. Another perfect one. I love the Hawaii feel.6. Good Vibrations : 5/5. This doesn't really belong on this album, but it's still a perfect song. BUT the full version from Smile Sessions is better.7. With Me Tonight : 4/5. Great one!8. Wind Chimes : 4.5/5. Scary as hell!9. Gettin' Hungry : 5/5. So cool! Love it 10. Wonderful : 4/5. Great song but I'm not that big of a fan of Wonderful. I prefer Wind Chimes.11. Whistle In : 4/5. Genius and a funny closer.

4/5 for the whole thing. If they could've somehow dropped Good Vibrations and added couple more "weird tracks", I'd consider 5/5 rating.

~post of the century~"Well, you reached out to me too, David, and I'd be more than happy to fill Bgas's shoes. You don't need him anyway - some of us have the same items in our collections as he does and we're also much better writers. Spoiled brat....."-Mikie

"in this online beach boy community, I've found that you're either correct or corrected. Which in my mind is all in good fun to show ones knowledge of their favorite band."- punkinhead

If you grew up in that time this LP was a disappointment .. After watching BW do Surfs Up on TV + all the hoopla + magazine articles + hype Jeez this was a letdown. A very strange LP that takes warming up to .. Do I like it.. ? Yes.. 4/5.. BUT.. When the SMILE boots started comin out in 80's and the 93 box set stuff + the 1988 compilation came out + Vigotone + SOT stuff + the Smile box set 2011.. I don't think ive listened to this LP since the early 90"s .. All the Definitive stuff from Smile is on those so this LP is Charming at best.. Inventive + Harmless Smiley Smile is to me.. The MEAT is somewhere else.. Back in 67 this LP made you scratch your head..?

The Most Strangest Follow-up Album in history.This album is a bit too weird for me. The version of Heroes and Villains on this is not as good as the one on the SMiLE Sessions. Good Vibrations is just simply out of place. The other songs sound like they're trying to annoy their record company. On the upside there are some great harmonies and melodies on here.

3 Stars

I find it weird how popular this topic is. It's more popular than Pet Sounds.

This ones tricky. Definitely not the horrible album some make it out to be, but it's not perfect either. It's certainly a work of art, just as innovative and cool as SMiLE wouldve been, but in a totally different style. Then again, that's the issue--this album has always been, and most likely always will be compared to the greatest album never released. And because of that, its contemporary and historical reputation has unfairly suffered.

I admit, when I first listened to it I was massively disappointed. I'd heard it was a stripped down version of this legendary, amazing album that had been scrapped. When I heard this, I couldn't help but think "really...that's it?" but further listenings and research into the SMiLE/Smiley sessions gave me a deeper appreciation for it. I now respect it as an essential piece of the SMiLE puzzle (I think a lot of the zany ideas here reflect some of the plans for SMiLE) and as its own standalone album.

It took serious guts to release this in the peak of the psychedelia/production race. In a way, Brian was still way ahead of his time, beating everyone to the "back to basics" approach. It's just he was so far ahead, no one appreciated it at the time.

While I think it was a mistake to do this album and not stick it out with the original SMiLE project, now that we have TSS it's much easier to judge the two separately (maybe if Smiley's title wasn't a callback itself tho, it'd be even easier...) I took off one star because Good Vibes absolutely doesn't fit and ruins the otherwise cohesive flow of the music. While I think they're inferior to their SMiLE counterparts, the rerecorded Wonderful, Wind Chimes, etc still sound awesome. 4/5

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Here are my SMiLE Mixes. All are 2 suite, but still vastly different in several ways. Be on the lookout for another, someday.

& This is a new pet project Ive worked on, which combines Fritz Lang's classic film, Metropolis (1927) with The United States of America (1968) as a new soundtrack. More info is in the video description.The American Metropolitan Circus>HERE[

4/5, would be a 5/5 if it didn't have H&V and GV (both songs are great, don't get me wrong, but they're just really out of place imo), and it doesn't seem like anyone else here's that into "Gettin' Hungry". The rest is great though, even if it takes a while to grow on you. I think I might actually like the version of "Wind Chimes" on Smiley better than the Smile version.

@Little Pad: I love Getting Hungry, and you're far from alone in preferring the Smiley version of Wind Chimes. The Smile version (particularly that big wordless chorus) is much too jarring and bombastic. In an ideal world, Brian would have finished Smile when he was good and ready by which point Wind Chimes would have reached its calm and soothing ("Smiley smile") final state and the original bassline/general musical idea would have found a happy home in Can't Wait Too Long.

I know a lot of Brian fans like this album, but I'm sorry I'm not one of them.

The only reason I give this one a three is for the inclusion of Heroes and Villains and Good Vibrations. Plus, I do like Wonderful (even if I prefer the Smile Sessions version). And, call me crazy, but I like Fall Breaks Back to Winter, with vocals from Fire.

Other than that, I have to say most of this album is filler, and hardly the follow-up that Pet Sounds deserved.

I know I'm in the minority, but personally, I think Smile is overrated, and I think the other Beach Boys should've stepped up to the plate sooner to avoid the band falling out of the public eye.

I think this is, by far, the worst Beach Boys album of the 1960s, and the worst during their creative years (62-73).

I think Wind Chimes on this is pretty tough to listen to, and I've never been a fan of any version of Vegatables. (Although I prefer to hear Paul McCartney eating celery than doing music with Kanye West).

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Any opinions posted by me regarding the music of The Beach Boys, and their members, is in no way a show of disrespect towards any member of The Beach Boys, past or present.

So I heard Pet Sounds playing in this cafe and ended up having a nice conversation about PS, except the guy said he was really only familiar with that and Endless Summer (which he said he wasn't as big of a fan of)... so I threw it out there that he should listen to Smiley Smile. Which I now think might have been bad because in that moment I forgot how WEIRD it is and just that I loved Vegetables and Heroes and Villains and... whoops. I'm not sure what albums you guys suggest to others when trying to get them into the Beach Boys? (I should have suggested the not-as-dark SMiLE.)

Also, I sense a disliking for Gettin' Hungry... but I personally like it. But again, I'm weird

« Last Edit: May 06, 2015, 09:45:40 PM by undercover-m »

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"We are pushed to the wall as the heap fills the room to its limits. The window breaks. The house bursts. A heartbreakingly fine Scotch plaid passes before our eyes. Pinstripes carry us into Manhasset Bay."

I haven't actively tried to get anybody into The Beach Boys, other than my fiance.

I would think it would be best to start with the early days and Pet Sounds to whet their appetite. Then, ease them into late 60s / early 70s material. Then, if they want to hear more, Smile / Smiley Smile. If they're really really curious, then I'd tell them to carefully pick through the rest of the catalog, but advise them to keep their expectations pretty low.

« Last Edit: May 07, 2015, 07:44:52 AM by KDS »

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Any opinions posted by me regarding the music of The Beach Boys, and their members, is in no way a show of disrespect towards any member of The Beach Boys, past or present.

I gave it 4/5 as I've never liked "Gettin' Hungry". I think it's because of the loopy verse----pity, because the organ sounds great. And it's a great album otherwise, after the initial shock (I bought it when was originally released).

Pardon if this has already been discussed... but Smile was shelved, and yet a track as weirdddd as "She's Goin' Bald? made it on the record?

Also, I kinda like this song. It's funny, which blends into the smile theme I guess

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"We are pushed to the wall as the heap fills the room to its limits. The window breaks. The house bursts. A heartbreakingly fine Scotch plaid passes before our eyes. Pinstripes carry us into Manhasset Bay."

Pardon if this has already been discussed... but Smile was shelved, and yet a track as weirdddd as "She's Goin' Bald? made it on the record?

Also, I kinda like this song. It's funny, which blends into the smile theme I guess

SMiLE wasnt abandoned for being too weird. It was abandoned because VDP quit, Brian couldnt or wouldnt finish the elements and wasted too much time noodling with the singles, the tinkering with said singles created gaps in the other songs he couldnt or wouldnt fill again, he felt he had missed the moment, he probably felt unworthy or unable to complete such a grandiose task, it would have been maddening to edit together back in those days, and... (on and on, etc etc)

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Here are my SMiLE Mixes. All are 2 suite, but still vastly different in several ways. Be on the lookout for another, someday.

& This is a new pet project Ive worked on, which combines Fritz Lang's classic film, Metropolis (1927) with The United States of America (1968) as a new soundtrack. More info is in the video description.The American Metropolitan Circus>HERE[

Like Surfin' Safari -- Smiley Smile is an honest, raw album that could have only happened when it did. Not necessarily a "product of its time" since that term is usually reserved for things that are merely repeating or echoing the trappings of the day (and often little more). Smiley Smile is not that at all. It's totally off the beaten path. Boldly going where no one has gone before.

It might be the weirdest album ever made. Dumb and scary, beautiful and corny. It's low key and kind of tossed off -- and I can't imagine what people must have thought of it when it came out. If I had a time machine...

It might be the weirdest album ever made. Dumb and scary, beautiful and corny. It's low key and kind of tossed off -- and I can't imagine what people must have thought of it when it came out. If I had a time machine...

Well, this buyer initially felt bewildered and, I confess, cheated. It took me several months to get over that initial disappointment but by the winter of '67 I couldn't get those strange songs out of my head. i still love this album. It has this wonderful and (at the time) quite unique intimacy, like the candle-lit scenes in Kubrik's Barry Lyndon...

& This is a new pet project Ive worked on, which combines Fritz Lang's classic film, Metropolis (1927) with The United States of America (1968) as a new soundtrack. More info is in the video description.The American Metropolitan Circus>HERE[

The guys drop a cyanide pill on their career with this one. One of the most unique albums ever made by anyone and free from the flab from SMiLE's more pretentious moments. Wonderful pales next to the more developed version though.Overall 4/5.

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I'd rather be forced to sleep with Caitlyn Jenner then ever have to listen to NPP again.

I posted the following in another thread but think it will be lost when that thread sinks from sight. Which probably won't matter to anyone, but it's my 2 cents worth on the subject. And by the way, the 2012 stereo version is a revelation:

I have, filed away somewhere, an article entitled “Smiley Smile is Smile,” written by I can’t remember who and don’t know when, but posted somewhere on-line sometime around the year 2000, plus or minus 4 or five years before or after.

OK, so there’s my bow to the citation gods, but what follows is not really about that article.

Well, yes it is, insofar as what I’m about here takes the idea that Smiley was not merely a poor substitute, but in fact a perfectly logical, internally consistent, culmination of the Smile project. And that as released was poorly mastered, improperly sequenced and, despite the fact that all the pieces were readily at hand, inexplicably incomplete.

An incomplete album, the pieces of which can now be brought together to reveal a coherent artistic statement, on a par with Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which must remain the benchmark against which all others are measured.

Guitars have been almost wholly removed, producing a minimalist aesthetic that is nevertheless “musical” – these guys were not simply producing an aural account of their hash parties – although the sweet, dreamy aroma of hashish does indeed permeate

The 1967 production is muddy, the 2012 Stereo Remaster reveals, not a stoned out indulgence, but rather a masterwork.

Here then is Smiley as I believe it should have, and could have, been released:

Well, You’re Welcome serves as a doormat greeting, inviting us to enter the Smiley reverie - and down the rabbit hole. Released as the flip-side to Heros and Villains.

Heros and Villains launches the listener off on a trip to the frontiers of the American psyche, circa 1967 and is thus perhaps best understood metaphorically. It’s start/stop structure has always bothered me, so rearranging the sections yields a nice flowing shuffle before introducing the music-box motif.

Carl’s whispering lead into Wonderful flows easily out of the dancing fade out of Heros as we turn inward, entering a kind of Alice in Wonderland scenario, with its veiled references and sexual allusions, the “god vibrations” interlude something like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

Getting’ Hungry may have served as something of a joking jolt following the “whispering winds” on Side Two but when placed after Wonderful on Side One takes on a different, I don’t know, accent – Wood blocks over a repetitive whirligig organ line - tension and release, tension and release. Lop off the first section so the song begins with Mike intoning the words “Well I wake up in the morning…” The bass note that accompanies his first syllable is the same as the na-na-na-na-na that ends Wonderful. I see the claustrophobia of the work-a-day office world alternating with landscapes drawn from a spaghetti western – trippy.

You’re With Me Tonight “with a smile” provides a nice little break in the unfolding stream of melo-dramas, a peak of the band at work in the studio reminiscent of earlier such appearances. And, of course, the ensuing little ditty conjures visions of, how shall we say – oral contraception? “On and on she go down-be-do-down – on and on you go.” Hmmm…

She’s Goin’ Bald – Psychedelic Coasters – what are they doing here I forget. Is it Little Egypt or Along Came Jones? I get dizzy just thinking of this tune.

Coming up for air - Whistle In – “remember the day-ay, remember the night-night, all day long” – WTF??? – what does it mean? Whatever, this sweet little chant bookends Well, You’re Welcome. Between the two are five boy-meets-girl songs, the standard subject of a pop-tune, all psychedelicized to reveal whole other dimensions of meaning. Hendrix said the BBs reminded him of a psychedelic barbershop quartet (quintet?) He must have been referring to Smiley.

The single most important change in this reconfiguration is the removal of the studio hit single version of Good Vibrations at the heart of the song cycle. The dry rehearsal in its place fits perfectly the minimalist aesthetic of the album, enlightening all that has preceded it and all that will follow. The boy/girl theme is elevated to the plane of cosmic consciousness – sex as the dance of the universe.

Mama Says’ childhood admonitions serves here as a grounding and short interlude between what might have been sides one and two had the album been fully realized.

Side Two leaves girl/boy concerns behind on a meander thru a Wonderland of psychic landscapes - The Elements. A 16 beat bass-note (from Hawthorne, appended here) provides a nice, and again, minimalist, intro to the suite – earth, air, fire and water - Vegetables, Wind Chimes, Fall Breaks and Cool Water. Lyrical content, such as it is, takes second place here to what can only be described as musical equivalents to impressionist paintings – gurgling, gulping, whooping, wavering, babbling, ornamental vocal filigree – interspersed, inter-cut and overlaying the barest of instrumentations – bass notes, woodblocks, bells. Who knew that Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony) is in fact the legendary lost Fire from Smile, reduced to the flickering flame of a candle? And can anyone tell me the aural inspiration for Cool, Cool Water the purist of psychedelic vocal soundscapes? Was there an experimental “classical” composer working with such voicings whose work served as a model for these?

We surface, finally, within landfall and the refuge of a Little Pad “…in Hawaii,” but press on to the finale with, first, the portentous Surf’s Up, which pulls together, elevates and deepens all that has preceded, followed by the mysterious, majestic Cabinessence, which recapitulates and thus encloses all that intervened within the Americana theme initiated by Heros and Villains at the outset of the song cycle - a trip to the frontiers of the American psyche, circa 1967.

Nothing tops Cabinessence, which is perhaps the supreme masterwork in the Beach Boys’ catalogue.

Except perhaps a snippet of the fading vocal tag, minus vocals, that miraculously reveals a delicate Arabesque dancing as thru a window.

From all the above it can be seen that Smiley Smile was Smile, or the logical culmination of the experiments and explorations of the Smile sessions reduced to the barest minimum. The record suffered, however, by the fact that it was poorly mastered, improperly sequenced and, despite the fact that all the pieces were readily at hand, inexplicably incomplete.

To sum up:

The remastered 2012 stereo version of Smiley Smile reveals a beauty and delicacy that was lost or obscured in the muddy 67 release.

Of the missing pieces –

Well, You’re Welcome was complete, released as a flip-side but withheld from the album.

Good Vibrations rehearsal was in the can.

Alternate Vegatables was in the can.?

Mama Says is a Smile leftover released in this configuration on Wild Honey. But I’m not sure when this version was recorded.

Cool Water Chant is from the Wild Honey sessions, but hadn’t it first appeared during the Smile sessions.

Surf’s Up, from the WH sessions, works beautifully as a solo vocal/piano piece and took how long to record – 3 minutes?

Cabinessence was largely complete as the session tapes demonstrate, and might have been completed in relatively short order.

As for the sequencing – the record is a mess as released and thus incomprehensible. The addition of the missing pieces almost compel the sequencing outlined above to reveal – Smile - as it might have been.

Speaking of "Cool, Cool Water" - does anyone know the EXACT date when the "Water Chant" section from said song, as well as "I Love To Say Dada" was recorded? In AGD's session notes he has a session for "Cool, Cool Water" October 29th, which is after listed dates pertaining to versions 1 & 2, which I'm assuming are related to versions 1 & 2 according to Smile Sessions boxset (I could be assuming wrong). I've heard here and there that the "Water Chant" as we know it, from those songs, wasn't recorded until the Wild Honey sessions so I'm guessing this would be the earliest date of this song, aside from previously listed versions that do not contain that chant.

I have, filed away somewhere, an article entitled “Smiley Smile is Smile,” written by I can’t remember who and don’t know when, but posted somewhere on-line sometime around the year 2000, plus or minus 4 or five years before or after.

I will defend this album to my dying day. Not it's not Smile, it's not even Pet Sounds....it doesn't want to be either. Amazing vocals on this album - amazing because they were probably stoned when they did them! But also amazing because there's so little instrumentation around them...it's almost the Beach Boys acapella. Just brilliant stuff.